JEAN-FRANOIS HEIM - Galerie Jean

JEAN-FRANÇOIS HEIM
TABLEAUX - DESSINS - SCULPTURES
FRANÇOIS JOSEPH NAVEZ
Charleroi 1787 - Brussels 1869
Belgian school
PORTRAIT OF JACQUES LOUIS DAVID
Oil on panel
H. 0,67 m; W. 0,56 m
signed lower right: F.J. NAVEZ DISC.us / FACIEBAT.
and inscribed by the artist on the reverse: I.bus LUD.cus DAVID AETATIS SUAE 67 / BRUX.lis
ANNO 1817. / FINI LE 27 SEPTEMBRE avant veille / DE MON DEPART POUR ROME
DATE: 1817
PROVENANCE: Private collection
RELATED WORKS:
Navez painted at least four other versions of this portrait:
1) Oil on panel, H. 0,74 m; W. 0,62 m
First version, finished on September 7th, 1817, refused by David.
Collection Portaels; collection Meurice-Van Gilse à Bruxelles; today
in the musée des Beaux-Arts de Valenciennes1.
Inscription on the reverse: Louis David âgé de 67 ans 1er portrait fait
d’après Mr David le 7 7bre 1817 celui-ci est le plus ressemblant. Mr
David me fit recommencer le [lacune] D’après lequel Potrel a gravé
parce que je n’avais pas dissimulé le défaut qu’il avait à la joue. Les
accessoires ont été d’après celui qui est chez d’Hemptinne qui est
aussi un portrait fait par moi d’après Mr David F.J. Navez.
1
André Hardy, « Un portrait de David par Navez », La Revue du Louvre, 1980. no. 5-6, p. 314-315.
134, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris, France
Tél. : +33 1 53 75 06 46 - Fax : +33 1 53 75 06 50
[email protected] - www.galerieheim.fr
Jean-François HEIM – EURL au capital de 7622,45 €
RC Paris : B 391 376 415 code APE : 525 Z
N° d’identification européen FR 32391376415
JEAN-FRANÇOIS HEIM
TABLEAUX - DESSINS - SCULPTURES
2) Second version mentioned by Navez in his inscription in the back of the Valenciennes
picture. Apparently David sat for him for this portrait, given by the artist to his friend Auguste
de Hemptinne. In 1931, it was in baron Houtart’s collection in Monceau-sur-Sambre; unknown
whereabouts today. According to Léo van Puyvelde, this was the best portrait of this series
(Léo van Puyvelde, François-Joseph Navez, Bruxelles, 1931, p. 7.)
3) Oil on panel, H. 0,75 m; W. 0,60 m
Version painted in September, 1817 and offered to David;
bequeathed by David’s grandson, Jules David-Chassagnol, to
the musée des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. This picture was
engraved by Portelle.
4) Oil on panel, H. 0,93 m; W. 0,76 m
Commissioned in 1836 by the count of Schönborn, painted after
the Valenciennes picture, amplifying the composition; until 1865
in the Schönborn collection in Munich; then Hirsch collection
(sold in Paris in June, 1904, no. 32); at present on loan in the
Montreal Museum of Fine arts.
After a first training in the Royal Academy of Brussels and in the workshop of PierreJoseph-Célestin François, Navez obtained a scholarship to study in Paris. Between 1813 and
1816 he was a pupil of Jacques-Louis David, whom he then accompanied to his exile in
Brussels. Navez had obtained a scholarship for a stay in Rome, but preferred to work under
David in Brussels for another two years, before leaving for Italy where he would spend four
years.
On his return from Italy, Navez, although he was already famous as a portrait painter
and especially appreciated by the Belgian upper middle class, tried to get known as a history
painter, in particular with religious paintings. Director of the Belgian Royal Academy of Arts
134, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris, France
Tél. : +33 1 53 75 06 46 - Fax : +33 1 53 75 06 50
[email protected] - www.galerieheim.fr
Jean-François HEIM – EURL au capital de 7622,45 €
RC Paris : B 391 376 415 code APE : 525 Z
N° d’identification européen FR 32391376415
JEAN-FRANÇOIS HEIM
TABLEAUX - DESSINS - SCULPTURES
from 1835 to 1862, he trained numerous artists, among whom the Orientalist Jean-François
Portaels (his later son-in-law) and Alfred Stevens.
Our portrait dates from the period Navez spent in Brussels before his departure for
Rome. As he didn’t benefit from any scholarship, he had to earn his living. Hence he executed
a large number of portraits, all of them clearly showing David’s influence.
In September of 1817, during the last weeks before his departure, Navez painted
several portraits of David. He probably thought that after a long absence he would not see
again his revered master. In a first version, kept today to the Musée des Beaux-Arts,
Valenciennes, David seems older than in the other versions, and the asymmetry of the face is
sharply marked. This picture was carefully inscribed and documented with this information
on the reverse by the artist himself: "67-year-old Louis David, 1st portrait painted from life on
September 7th, 1817; this one is the most resembling. Mr David made me start all over again
the one [word missing] that Potrel engraved because I had not hidden the flaw on his cheek.
The accessories were painted after the portrait that is at Hemptinne, which is also a portrait I
made of Mr David after life, F.J. Navez."
In 1931, Leo Van Puyvelde in his biography on Navez discussed these three portraits
as follows: "He then painted three portraits of his master David: one is offered to his master,
another one is given to Auguste de Hemptinne, the third one will later be in the Portaels
collection. The best of these portraits is at present in the baron Houtart collection in Monceausur-Sambre, the second is kept in the Musée Royal d’Art moderne in Brussels, the third is part
of the Meurice-Van Gilse collection in Brussels." 2
This last picture was the very first version, that David had refused and that was part of
the Portaels collection (son-in-law of the artist), and later was acquired by the Musée des
Beaux-Arts, Valenciennes. The picture offered to David, engraved by Potrelle, was
bequeathed to the museum of Brussels by David’s grandson, Jules David-Chassagnol.
Could the present painting be the portrait given to Auguste de Hemptinne? This
picture was in baron Houtart’s collection in Monceau-sur-Sambre in 1931, and André Hardy
did not know its location in 1980. But if one trusts the inscription on the back of the
Valenciennes painting, the accessories of the Brussels version were painted after the portrait
given to Auguste de Hemptinne, which is thus inevitably previous. According to the
inscription on the back of the present picture, it was painted two days before Navez’s
departure to Italy, and is most likely the last one of the series.
The Portrait of Jacques Louis David had an immense success. According to the
Grande Encyclopédie, "his [Navez’s] best works are Louis David's portrait and his own
portrait". In 1836, when he visited Navez’s workshop, the count of Schönborn saw the
Valenciennes version. He immediately commissioned Navez a copy of the portrait, showing
2
Léo van Puyvelde, François-Joseph Navez, Bruxelles, 1931, p. 7.
134, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris, France
Tél. : +33 1 53 75 06 46 - Fax : +33 1 53 75 06 50
[email protected] - www.galerieheim.fr
Jean-François HEIM – EURL au capital de 7622,45 €
RC Paris : B 391 376 415 code APE : 525 Z
N° d’identification européen FR 32391376415
JEAN-FRANÇOIS HEIM
TABLEAUX - DESSINS - SCULPTURES
the hands of the model. This picture is currently on loan in the Montreal Museum of Fine
arts.
The present painting shows David seated, turned three-quarters to the right, looking
firmly at the spectator. His black jacket, decorated with the cross of the Legion of Honour,
opens on a white jabot. He is painted with careful attention to the rendering of his face,
without any accessories of a painter. A green monochrome background sets off the figure.
Navez managed to confer to this portrait an impressive presence. In his strong and
straight forward manner close to the Flemish tradition of the 17th century, the artist expressed
all the sympathy he had for his friend and mentor.
Inscription by the artist on the reverse of the present painting: I.bus
LUD.cus DAVID AETATIS SUAE 67 / BRUX.lis ANNO 1817. / FINI
LE 27 SEPTEMBRE avant veille / DE MON DEPART POUR
ROME
"Jacques Louis David at the age of 67, in Brussels in 1817.
Finished September 27th, two days before my departure for
Rome."
David had a deformity of his right cheek, the result of a wound
suffered in a fencing match in his youth. In his self-portraits he
used to hide this flaw and also asked Navez to diminish its effects.
Nevertheless, other artists like François Rude made a more
realistic treatment of this deformity.
François Rude, Buste de Jacques Louis David, 1831, Paris, musée du Louvre.
134, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris, France
Tél. : +33 1 53 75 06 46 - Fax : +33 1 53 75 06 50
[email protected] - www.galerieheim.fr
Jean-François HEIM – EURL au capital de 7622,45 €
RC Paris : B 391 376 415 code APE : 525 Z
N° d’identification européen FR 32391376415